Microsoft Is Literally Now Saying That Xbox Has 'Lost The Console Wars'

Never give up! Things will turn around

Hey, if it helps your case...why not?

I don't know where the Series X/S systems are in terms of sales, but history lends some credence to this statement.

Xbox: Outsold by the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance.

Xbox 360: Outsold by the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS

Xbox One: Outsold by the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo 3DS.

While they've yet to lead a console generation, I don't think of them as a weak brand.

@Wheatly great typo! It's obvious you meant losers but calling yourself a lover also isn't going to get anyone to buy into the product 😅

I cant say i disagree with the statement

they have never sold more consoles than Sony in any generation

They are just using it as a clear way to get their point across, and in a way that makes it seem that no matter what happens, they aren't going to "win" so there's no point in stopping them buying Activision Blizzard as they have already "lost" .

And for those constantly complaining that this acquisition is being dragged out and you've had enough of it, just stop following it. It's hardly a life or death situation so if you are fed up, just ignore it.

I mean, folks are willing to skip your platform because you're in third or because it pleases the market leader.... so he's not lying. I'm expecting it to be brought up that poor victim Sony was looking at money hatting Starfield before the acquisition. Had no problem with it being exclusive originally....so long as they had it.

@Wheatly and most people aren't going to hear this comment from Xbox, and those who do will either not care or care for a few days and then forget.

Still being in the console business and having a succesul business model suggests otherwise. Sega, Atari, google,etc lost the console war.

They are in 3rd place by a wide margin but still successfully making it in the console space.

Just more hyperbole for their deal. Like Sony saying it will be forced out of the business if COD isn't released on playstation 11 years from now.

@Link41x Right now Xbox Series X + S combined are at around 22m sales. PS5 is at about 38m sales. Switch is at 126m, although Switch is likely poised to be the best selling console of all time, so it's a bit of an anomaly.

I mean, in reality, are they wrong to say that? It's not really a lie. However, being third still gets you a place on the podium. Regardless, MS managed to launch a new console brand and it's still here 20 years later. Third or not, MS has still managed to find a level of success in this industry that a lot of others haven't, and there's merit in that.

Put it in context at you'll see why they said this, and yeah, xbox has always been third place.

This article is gonna attract the worst trolls

I don't think this is ridiculous at all, @FraserG. I've basically been saying this exact thing here on these forums for the past few months. There is a reason why Xbox has not had a single AAA third-party exclusive this generation, and it's because they have such a small market share that the cost of paying a Developer for an exclusive is outweighed by the returns for Xbox in terms of new users and console sold. The Developers want to hit the biggest number of gamers possible, and they just cannot do that on the Xbox. It is why Microsoft have been on a recent studio buying spree; they need the exclusive content, and the only way to get it is to buy the studio outright...

Maybe don't increase the price of your suscription service then?

Confirmation the wars are real.

If prices don't rise, how do they afford to put new, quality content on the Game Pass, @Lup. Developers are likely expecting more for their games as development costs are increasing too. They pass that cost on to Microsoft, who are now passing it on to us. If you want something from a shop that used to cost £1/$1 but now costs £2/$2, you have three options, go without, pay the new price, or steal it! Stealing is obviously bad, as is going without, hence Microsoft is having to pay those increased costs and then passing it on to us. They are a business, not a charity. They have Investors who expect a return on their investment...

They're not wrong in the sense that both PlayStation consoles and the Switch vastly outsell Xbox consoles. I'd argue consoles as we know them have less than a decade left, before there is a transition to streaming/cloud-based services offered straight through consumer TVs though.

Edit: This is what frustrates me about Microsoft, with the above in mind you'd think they (and their subsidiaries) would focus on games that close the gap on their consoles instead of directly competing with the strong third-party titles that are released for them.

@Wheatly
Seriously, this is like the New York Yankees crying poor, little underdog us. Give me a break.

By Gosh it’s been a bit of a downer the last few days, Price increases making people go mad now Microsoft officially labelling themselves the ‘loser’ brand of consoles.

Well I still love you Xbox, don’t give a hoot about ‘console war’ winners. I love my Series X, love my gamepass stacked to 2026, love that Starfield and new Fable are on the way!

Chin up and all that! 😁

But Xbox are not interested in selling consoles anymore. They only care about how many people play on their ecosystem. They will be a cloud leader for many years to come with streaming devices being their main staple and game pass continuing to offer gaming for everyone no matter the budget and that’s a good thing.

As for console wars , i grew up with Nintendo and Sega but only the most delusional still carp on about console ‘wars.’ Nintendo do their own thing and do it very well. Sony will sell PlayStations no matter what as we are seeing with PS5 - a pretty dire line up of games, not at all for the players yet it’s going to sell and keep selling just on its name.
Xbox have their own space now and that is cloud gaming and accessibility.

There is something for everyone out there.

Personally, Game Pass Ultimate and retro gaming is my world and I love it! Gaming is for all and it doesn’t matter whether you play on your phone, Xbox, Nintendo , PS or emulation system. Enjoy it! Embrace it and shove the wars UYA!

You get why they’re saying it but is it not concerning how effortless they’ll sell us down the river? I mean today they’re saying they’ve already lost…yesterday they’re trying to sell yet another console to us. Where’s the faith? They’ve literally just increased the price of the console and subscription…the message should be one of commitment and value. Saying ‘we’ve lost’ brings up the question of how long will the console be supported. Will it have exclusives going forward or should I can I save hundreds and get them on the platform I already own?

This is the oddity of Xbox - they’re the only platform out of the 3 regularly congratulated on their transparency because they talk the most…yet they’re actually the least transparent of the 3

@TanaDax The problem is with these kind of ‘news’ stories is that they are non news stories. Of course Xbox is way behind when it comes to selling consoles. That’s no surprise at all. The only reason they are saying it out loud is due to the Act/Bliz deal. It’s nothing to worry about in any way.
Xbox will be around for generations and is going nowhere.

@Bleachedsmiles why are people so upset about about the sub increase? It’s a minimal jump and still value for money. How are they ripping people off? They may be 3rd in terms of sales but they will still follow the cloud gaming path. That has always been clear. The hysteria around this and the price increases is just needless.

16% Worldwide? Or 16% in the US? And 16% of the US is a big number compared to other places.

@101Force Xbox is focused on getting as many people to play games as possible on as many systems as possible. That was always the case this time around - it’s hardly a next gen as not much has changed - and they are succeeding in that.

@Link41x Xbox 360 was ahead of the PS3 most of that console generation. PS3 only topped when Microsoft stopped producing the Xbox 360.

I think the whole Act/Bliz deal has just totally sent people mad! I never thought it would change the gaming market and still don’t should it go through, which I now doubt it will.

What interests me is that much talk has been made about if the deal did go through that it would mean Xbox would dominate the cloud market. That deal would do nothing of the sort.

If Xbox truly wanted to dominate and take cloud gaming as their own, they can do one very simple thing that wouldn’t need court cases - put Game Pass Ultimate on Nintendo Switch. Now that would give them utter dominance! But they haven’t done that and it would be the most simple thing to do with a click it the fingers!

@BaldBelper78 because it’s less to do with the amount and more to do with the timing.

@Solidchief Don't forget the 360 released a whole year before the PS3

The series s is a perfect console to have when you already own a ps5 or a switch like me, but if I would only own one of the three I would chose the Nintendo switch for their excelence in making good Games and their iconic IP, which lacks in Microsoft catalog.

@Lup It’s increased by 2 quid ffs. It’s a fair enough price to pay.

@Bleachedsmiles Timing may not be great but they’ve done it. End of. It’s a minor price hike for an excellent service and people need to stop getting their knickers in a twist over that story and this one. Xbox is third when it comes to selling consoles. Everyone knows that: it’s just a statement of fact. But it changes nothing at all.

The funny thing is, it's their own fault they're there and nobody should be sorry for them. They had all the money they needed, and yet, they failed. Difference why they didn't go the sega way is because of daddy MS, and that is still a possibility or a probablity if Starfield fails and this deal is rejected.

I don't see people mentioning crying Phil. The bias is real.

@BaldBelper78 because most people understand that the price will continue to rise. It’s following the exact same playbook of tv streaming. Low but frequent price increases.

@themightyant reminds me of reading American Psycho and the urinal cake part... MS have just taken "that infamous E3" and still ploughed ahead with the same mindset just wrapped as a dessert.

Yet when you bite into it you begin to realise its still that same urinal cake... its not a very nice thing to digest.

Yet here we are. I only have myself to blame and my own naïvety, ive completely lost all faith in them. The "early access" day one stuff has really turned me off, they can spin it how they want but gamepass day one is an outright lie now saying its day one but for £35 i can play 5/6 days early isn't day one and not was was advertised.

£156 for a years GP (yes im aware of the stack but im creating multiple accounts to keep doing it or any of the other faff(which is telling isn't it, I'd rather have the sub i thought i was buying))
At that price and the past 12 months... it'd of been cheaper to buy the games i actually liked.

If only game devs could somehow give us a playable demonstration of their games....

If they are in last place and have almost no market share, then why are developers supporting a "dead " system?
This is what these same companies used as an excuse for the WiiU!

@themightyant Of course it would come down to Nintendo but it would be easier than trying to get the deal with Act|Bliz done.

@Krzzystuff I really hope it is brought up. If it’s true then it negates the whole argument. I mean even without acquisitions you can still secure exclusivity; e.g. Final Fantasy. But the Starfield example is just too hypocritical. And also follows on from the 1 year timed exclusivity of Deathloop and Ghostwire. It’s no wonder Xbox just straight up bought Zenimax.

@BaldBelper78

No need to defend the poor little corporation. I'm sure they can do it themselves.
That wasn't the point I was trying to make, anyways.

If I want to sell something and it doesn't sell, I don't increase the price.
I think the increase in price it's not too much (altough we'll see how that converts to regions with other currencies, like mine).
The point was only that it seems counterproductive to whine about being in last place and then up the price (only on consoles, I might add) for the same service you were already giving.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Xbox don’t put prices up that often tbf. Subs will always go up over time. It’s not a huge issue.

My heart bleeds for the multi billion dollar mega corporation

They never have won, the closest to beating a PS console was the 360 but MS managed to screw that up and allowed Sony the lead.

@Tasuki Yeah because Insomniac are the same as Activision and you do realise Sony didn't oppose Bethesda or Ninja Theory and such, also Jim wasn't in charge when Sony bought them and he sure as hell wasn't in charge when MS handed Sony the win on a diamond plate.

@themightyant

We all know why they are saying this

Perhaps because it is factually correct??
They managed to come third even at their most successful attempt during the XB360 generation....somehow 😀.

True, they've lost for decades.

@BaldBelper78 far from a click of the fingers - I would be shocked if Gamepass came to Switch as its just not how Nintendo operates. But I'm sure MS would love for it to happen.

Case in point is that Xbox Cloud Streaming is available on Steam Deck - and Microsoft actually provides a detailed step by step guide on how to do it

The acquisition isn’t a threat to anyone. And why cloud is being mentioned is bizarre. Cloud gaming may well be something Xbox dominate but Sony are as bothered about cloud gaming as MS are about selling consoles.
Nintendo will just carry on doing it’s own thing and I don’t even think they will bring out a new console until holiday 2026 now.
Xbox is now a gaming brand rather than a console maker.
MS simply have a better infrastructure for cloud gaming than Sony. That alone will dictate the cloud scene, not mergers and takeovers.

Perhaps they could develop more actual exclusive games to help be more competitive against Sony and Nintendo should the fact they have more content be the problem?

@PapaGlitch Totally get that but what I’m saying is that if Xbox really wanted to dominate cloud and give no one else a chance , there are other ways than taking over Act/Bliz. The UK ruling was bizarre and made no sense.
Jim Ryan just doesn’t want a gaming culture where everyone plays across consoles - he’s a huge issue in the gaming arena because he is so complacent that PlayStations will sell no matter what and we are seeing that with PS5. I bought one, had it for one year and literally played it maybe 10 times!

Microsoft only have themselves to blame. They shut down all their 1st party studios knowing full well people buy consoles to play first party exclusives. The likes of Halo, Fable and PGR were reasons why I and many others picked an Xbox 360 over a PS3.

Sony doubled down on exclusives on the PS4 whilst Microsoft burned all theirs and they lost a lot of ground. It was only initiatives like backwards compatibility and Gamepass that got them through.

Are Microsoft a third behind Sony and Nintendo? Yes, but buying Activision won’t help things.

@RadioHedgeFund It won’t make a difference but Xbox will be fine. Some seem to be saying that this is the end! Xbox is doomed. It’s not even close to being doomed.

@Kaloudz They haven’t and won’t sell as many consoles but they have far from lost. They are just playing the game. Nothing more; nothing less!

@Fenbops maybe but at an American FTC you have to phrase it in terms of what they know…

@pip_muzz I don’t know - I will be queuing up when the Xbox XXX comes out….

Big bombshell today from an exchange from Sony’s Jim Ryan that was revealed:

“It is not an exclusivity play at all,” said Ryan. “They’re thinking bigger than that and they have the cash to make moves like this. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with [Phil] Spencer Bobby [Kotick] and I’m pretty sure we will continue to see Call of Duty on PlayStation for years to come.”

Hmmm, so there goes one argument.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/22/23769790/sonys-playstation-chief-microsofts-activision-deal-xbox-exclusives-ftc

@Kaloudz being from Canada - I take exception at the Nickleback analogy… even here we don’t like them 😧

@UltimateOtaku91 True and it was cheaper as well

@GodofCapcom The funny thing is, it's their own fault they're there and nobody should be sorry for them

This is how i feel as a big Xbox Fan, MS had Sony on the ropes for a even battle or even victory with the Xbox 360 and did a dumb move with the Xbox One, going after the whole living room and Kinect. That is on them and i don’t feel sorry for it. Did i like the Xbox one ? Yes but it was in no way shape or form a mass appeal console like the PS4. Sony isn’t perfect in business, no one is, but i can’t fault them for releasing good games and gamers wanting to buy into that more than Xbox.

How utterly unprofessional and immature can you get? To use that language ‘we lost the console wars’ like idiots fighting in You Tube videos or forums, and this is a document presented to a high court.
I find the while rhetoric from Microsoft over this case, even when the petty outbursts they had when the CMA blocked the deal, to be extremely petty and immature and not befitting of a corporation worth a trillion dollars at all.

First thing I would counter argue with is, so why then with your vast swathes of cash did you not try to counter offer for exclusivity on games against Sony?

It is REALLY putting me off Microsoft and Xbox all this childish language being used.

@Green-Bandit TV TV TV TV TV TV Kinect you have to have Kinect and it has to be online all the time to work, oh did we mention TV TV… games? No it doesn’t play those.

Yeah Microsoft absolutely did it to themselves.

@awp69 Jim Ryan is bad for gaming

I agree. It's ridiculous that there's another article devoted to a memo that is clearly aimed at winning the FTC case and this article is aimed at getting 200+ comments here, mostly flame war type. Who cares? Just play your games and leave the courtroom drama to MS lawyers FFS.

@BaldBelper78 how has PS5 had a dire line up of games??? Xbox have had 2 exclusives in almost 3 years!! I have both PS5 an Series X, my PS5 has 2tb extended SSD, my Series X has no extended SSD. I have more space on my Xbox. In fact Forza Horizon 5, Flight Sim, Dead Island 2, Left for Dead 2, Elden Ring. They’re wat’s on my Series X.

@themightyant

This. I remember Forza Motorsport 7 just came to Game Pass and I believe it wasn't even on there that long, I mean like a month or two, less than that.

If Xbox can provide high quality then maybe they can be higher. However with the price increase I doubt it now.

@themightyant Sony are the epitome of ‘do as I say, not as I do!’
Jim Ryan should win awards for his hypocrisy.

@Lastatopiny neither have had that much to crow about. My point is more that PlayStation could sell millions without doing anything at all because the brand is now that strong.
Xbox want to get people on GamePass and in the ecosystem for the long term and they are doing that well.
Xbox and PlayStation are focused on different paths and that is fine. Variety is good for gamers.

@themightyant

The point is Microsoft basically NEVER talked about the "console war" in fact they have done their best to distance themselves from it and point to other metrics like engagement instead. Now however they want to pretend they are a small belittled startup fighting against the big monopolistic bad. Ha!

Well, they stopped talking about the console wars on the XBO generation, because they didn't see any further chance of staying competitive in console warfare. They had to seek a different business model (simply gaming, across PC, Console,
Cloud and eventually mobile.)

As for the "pretend they are small belittled startup", well, that is also extremely hyperbolic. Claiming to be in last place is not claiming they are a small startup, its stating a fact. MS is not claiming they are not profitable in console gaming. That fact is never going to help them with investors or market growth, but it is a fact that will help them during a legal case that is focused around consoles.

But that doesn't mean there aren't many others from Sony's perspective.

Sony's concerns continue to be exclusively CoD, not it's exclusivity perhaps, but "parity", marketing rights, the mere thought that someone will prefer to play it on Xbox due to GP or what not. Sony's obsession with CoD and nothing but CoD, IMO, is extremely frustrating from a gamers perspective. How can we blame ABK themselves for over-focusing on CoD when Sony is obviously equally hyper focused on just that?

Edit:

As for X360 as I said above they marginally came third in console sales but easily beat Sony in almost every other metric. I wouldn't say they 'Lost' that gen.

Agree. In fact, by the end of the generation XBox still had more software units sold than PS3, and that's where the actual money is. I would say that points at the 360 winning that generation. And when you look at individual markets, the 360 was significantly ahead of the PS3 in the American regions, making claims of anyone winning or losing a generation weird.

@S1ayeR74 i agree they did it to themselves. The 360 was insanely popular, all they needed to do was build a more reliable hardware that did more of what the 360 did and find ways to grow from 4-5 studios i think they had back then. They would have been fine, not crushing Sony, cause PS is as popular of a brand as there ever was or will be in gaming. But they would be in better shape.i don’t even watch TV haha (outside of football)

I'm fortunate to own all three but it would benefit everyone if all remain competitive and although there will inevitably be system exclusives, I do hope the exclusive content and release windows for multi platform games die a quick death.

It’s theater, but they are in the theater this week. So why not play to your advantages. I would be doing the same exact thing if I were Phil. Get your point across any which way you can. Get this deal through any which way you can.

Meh... They have to say that. what is driving me nuts is why is the FTC using Starfield as a weapon to stop the Merger...The game isn't even out yet.

It seemed like xbox didn't want a console war, but playstation did, so I guess they had to fight back.

@PharaohTV

They are using Starfield because their case is sooooooo weak. It was actually kinda predictable they would go this route. They have very little else to fall back on. What was the FTC gonna come up with that the CMA didn’t? And MS’s lawyers hammered the CMA a few weeks back. It’s really all they have.

@RadioHedgeFund

Microsoft only have themselves to blame. They shut down all their 1st party studios knowing full well people buy consoles to play first party exclusives.

This is a bit of a separate topic but... did they?

How many studios did they shut down? As far as I can recall, they only shut down one: Lionhead studios. They also allowed Bungie to buy their independence, but they didn't shut it down.

The real question, I guess, is... where did xbox exclusives used to come from?

• Halo obviously came from Bungie, and they sold them, but got "replaced" by 343.
• Fable came from Lionhead, got shut down for some reason when Fable Legends got canceled. Not sure why they didnt attempt to salvage what was done and just produce Fable IV with those assets but /shrug
• Gears of War came from a third party deal with Epic Games
• Forza Motorsports came from a first party, is still around
• Rare made various games, none wildly successful until Kinect and then Sea of Thieves, still around

Almost everything else I can think of was done via third party deals. Dead Rising, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, Gotham Project Racing, Dead or Alive 4, the already mentioned Gears of War... all made as third party deals. Some IPs owned by MS, other retained by the publishers, but still, not done by xbox.

The thing that did happen early in the XBox One generation (given how timelines work, this means it actually stopped about 3 years earlier) was that they stopped making third party exclusivity deals, because "data showed" that 360 users spent more time watching movies and playing third party games. 🤦

At the same time, though, the only one that relied heavily on first party games used to be Nintendo. Sony didn't get to where they got via first party games, they got there via third party exclusivity deals. It was not until Uncharted that they started creating a true first party identity. God of War 1 and 2 were great, but they were end-of-life PS2 games.

Is Microsoft's barometer for success having to be number one and smashing the competition into the ground? That's what it sounds like from these comments with the fact they're even using terms such as "losing" and "console war". Just because they haven't sold as many consoles as Nintendo or Sony doesn't mean that Xbox isn't a successful brand in its own right. It's disappointing to see what is supposed to be a professional business resorting to use such inflammatory statements as they know exactly the responses that they will lead to from certain elements of fanbases.

@BaldBelper78
Who is jim ryan?

It's just been outed in court that Indiana Jones games WILL be Xbox / pc exclusive

@RIghteousNixon It's insanely Frustrating!

@BaldBelper78 people should rightly voice concerns or opinions on it that differ from ‘just smile and accept it’. The reality of it is that they’ve sold gamepass with the marketing of their first party AAA coming day1 - THATS gamepass biggest value. Last year they offer no first party AAA games day 1… and now they finally have them coming they raised the price…But only for console, not PC. This is on top of pc gamers not having to also pay to unlock content from Xbox games. As well as price increases to games and hardware 3 years in.

So yeah, it really doesn’t matter if the price increase is a penny. The message of it is the problem. They should have really waited till the abk deal went through before rising it…easier to defend. Maybe this is a sign confidence in that is gone. Or it’s a sign of greed because they know people want to play starfield so opportunistic to raise price of console and sub

@PharaohTV

That’s because Lina Khan and her crusade against big corporations is highly frustrating. Still, to be expected and will very very very likely fail.

I’m just sad I can’t watch it. I expect MS’s lawyers to crush the FTC. I’m expecting a blood bath. Should have been on pay per view…

@Bleachedsmiles

Easier to defend? One of the arguments the CMA and FTC have been stating as a reason to prevent the deal is the idea that MS would just raise prices after the deal went through. For MS to turn around and do just that after the ABK deal would have been a terrible idea, at least in the eyes of regulators. There is a very good reason they did this the day before the trail started.

As a tech company, pissing in the face of regulators isn’t a smart thing these days, even if MS wasn’t planning on any big acquisitions after this. That info can be used against any future acquisition for years and years and years to come.

Man, MS is something else..

Not surprising that there are people on this site that are actually defending this move, because fan site... But damn. Combined with price hike in face of first decent game release in years, MS managed to lose good will they earned on my end through that last showcase in record time.

Basically MS is openly saying we invested money for 4 generations and lost as we were not able to create/design competition. So allow us to buy external competition and market advantage. And some are eating that up..

@Cikajovazmaj

Only if you read what MS is saying at face value. As I stated up above, this is theater and MS is using everything they can to win this case. I would lose respect in them if they didn’t, especially after the way Sony has acted during all of this. Given the way this thing has played out, win at all costs. Sort the rest out after.

Of course, you’re entitled to disagree.

@Utena-mobile

“ Xbox needs to stop this whole "we lost the console war, we're last!" crying.”

And they will once they win this case

@Utena-mobille

Just need to understand why they’re doing it. I get your argument that many casual gamers won’t get it, but you clearly do. It’s all coming to a head. This thing will be over one way or another very soon. And I can promise you that you won’t be hearing this kind of stuff once this is over.

Can we have an article about this-

“It is not an exclusivity play at all,” said Ryan. “They’re thinking bigger than that and they have the cash to make moves like this. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with [Phil] Spencer Bobby [Kotick] and I’m pretty sure we will continue to see Call of Duty on PlayStation for years to come.”

@Snake_V5 some markets are hard to walk into and win, ask the PSP and Vita. Both great machines, but that market belongs to Nintendo. Good luck to anyone thinking they can just buy that market away from them. Xbox don’t have to win they have to be competitive, make money and reinvest it into the brand, they seem to be doing that again.

@BaldBelper78 i don’t think so. If Xbox started releasing mind blowing exclusives, 10/10 across the board an Playstation released poor to average exclusives Xbox would close the gap an eventually overtake. I openly say both machines are incredible but i do prefer my PS5 to my Series X simply because of the games. I’d love it if Xbox released equal quality games, i’m so hopin Starfield is as good as it sounds!! I think wat you’re saying would only happen with Nintendo, espesh in Japan.

@Utena-mobile

This acquisition is a big deal. MS wants into the mobile market and it wants these games on Game Pass. It has already sucked up a lot of time and effort and they could lose 3 billion just for it not going through. This is a very big deal for MS so as I said up above, I would actually lose respect in them if they didn’t pull out all the big guns to win it, even if some of them actually make Xbox look a bit weaker in the short term.

You know what fixes all that and this minimal price hike for Game Pass? Getting Diablo IV and all of ABK’s other games dropped on Game Pass. That will go a very long ways in fixing everything. A couple months from now, that’s all people will remember. Of course, if they lose…well, let’s just hope they have a back up plan in that instance.

They've been pumping out the same narrative for a while now, with the exact more or less same words. Might not be what they're aiming for in this particular case, but Xbox is not selling itself as a console only option anymore. It's about the wider ecosystem, which I think is quite true. So to me the argument they're trying to play is "this isn't about console wars anymore, we're not in it to destroy other consoles, we just do gaming in the wider sense. So not necessarily targeting Sony or Nintendo here".

Wether that hurts competition or not in a bigger sense is a different debate, but I do believe Xbox is diverging from Sony's offering more and more

@themightyant saw about the exclusivity earlier.

I been saying since the day the game was announced that the game would be platform exclusive unless Disney literally forced them to ship it to PlayStation.

I am surprised there is no article in PushSquare for that yet. Thats going to make many console warriors from both sides flame each other for a few hours.

@Solidchief to be fair the 360 released some 18 months before the PS3 an the PS3 cost a lot more. They didn’t stop makin Xbox 360 until 2016, 3 years after the Xbox One released.

@themightyant And I thought Microsoft were honouring all existing contracts.

@RIghteousNixon who cares about regulators at that point. None of us are naive enough to believe MS when they say they’ve accepted last place…or when Sony says they can’t compete against cod.
And you’re assuming everyone is dumb enough not to see the reason why this price rise is before a trail other than you - odds are if you’ve noticed this, the regulators also have and it could equally pointed out and used as an example of willingness to raise price again never mind the disingenuous timing or doing so now.

As for it working against future acquisition if they raised the price straight after… it’s doubtful future ones are going to be in the 69billion again.

No, for gamers is would a price rise in the face of far more content and value would have been easier to accept. Now we have to see if the abk goes through…AND have some confidence yet another price rise won’t follow. You confident?

@Utena-mobile

Yeah, this has been a long drawn out battle with both sides doing things they probably wish they hadn’t. It is what it is. Thankfully we are approaching the finish line. We can either start enjoying ABK games on Game Pass or MS can move onto another big acquisition as you can be assured if this falls through, they will have something else in mind. I think everyone, both those for and against the deal, are just ready for it to be over one way or another.

@Tharsman they have a article up saying it was going to be multiplatform, yet no article on jim Ryan even though the jump Ryan came a hour and a half before indy news

@Bleachedsmiles

Who cares about regulators at that point?? I don’t know, any tech companies that have a brain cell between their heads in a time when regulators are cracking down on big tech mergers. It would be utterly beyond idiotic for MS to piss off regulators at this point. I mean utterly beyond moronic. The FTC by law has to review any merger over 111.4 million so MS could easily see themselves back up in front of them soon enough. Same with the CMA, but I can’t remember what their threshold is value wise. Around 100 million.

And I am not acting like I am the sole person who understands what is going on here, but clearly there are some in here taking MS’s words at face value right now. That’s kinda funny.

No reason why Xbox should ever lose a single exclusivity deal to Sony. They can afford to outbid them every time. It's a choice not to. And that's fine, but I dont like it when they claim they're almost being bullied out of some deals. That just isnt true.
Phil Spencer is perhaps too nice? I would by every big 3rd party game for Xbox, until PS was gone personally.

@NeutronBomb

It’s not that easy. It’s not just about what you’re willing to pay, it’s also about overall sales on the console you’re going to be exclusive too. Given Sony is way ahead of MS in hardware, a game has the potential to sell far more on PS. MS would have to outbid Sony by SIGNIFICANT margins for many games. If all you care about is losing money, sure do it. If you actually want to be profitable, it’s not that simple.

@UltimateOtaku91 they didn't break the contract. Disney agreed to this. So yea, they are honoring the terms Disney agreed to.

@themightyant I just poked my head and dropped a few comments but already see the place will look like armageddon in an hour. I'm almost done with work so I'll be jumping back into Tears of the Kingdom in a bit and just check the post count later. I feel today Push Square has had more xbox news than PS news posted (hyperbole, of course.)

@Tharsman They broke the original contract by asking Disney to change it. To me that's not honouring all existing agreements which they said before the deal went through, and they couldn't change this Contract with Disney until the deal was done. Meaning their original statement was a lie.

Microsoft know that, if the FTC and CMA continue to block the deal until August, Microsoft can just pack up and the two companies prepare to write the severance cheques.

If the CMA hadn't turned around and gone 'Oh yes, and before you start final negotiations on the deal, No means No. We're blocking it until... August. Gee, Doesn't the deal run out in July?'

The FTC speeding up their court case is just what Microsoft want right now. If, this time next week, the courts decide in favor of Microsoft, they could push for the CMA to accept the majority decision, and the deal scrapes through.

But if this time next week, Microsoft have another failed attempt to avert the deal being blocked, the deal is DEAD.

@UltimateOtaku91 How many contracts have you signed in your life? Serious question, because an amendment to a contract is not "breaking a contract".

Breaking a contract means you don't honor the terms and either go to court or pay whatever penalties are outlined in a penalty clause.

@Tharsman OK so even an amendment to a contract is still not honouring existing contracts, a statement that was made before even making that amendment.

@UltimateOtaku91 honoring a contact means you are not going to breach it. When you "don't honor a contract", you usually end up in court. A renegotiation that is agreed upon by all parties is not against the spirit of such statement.

I'm sure you already made your mind on this, though.

Now, I loathe third party exclusives and mergers / aquisitions, but I simply do not understand why this should be blocked despite decades of this happening. It's bonkers.

@Moonglow I think the point is MS presenting the idea of a trillion dollar company needing to spend another 70bil on another company just to get past 3rd place is frankly, ridiculous.

I will add to that I agree they will be in a far better place moving forward and if it does close I hope they do look at some of the forgotten IPs in ABKs archive, but I think one could argue they have the resources without this acquisition.

@Tharsman Gonna hafta arrest you for manslaughter.

I mean, didn't FFXVI just come out? Why the heck is he just here instead of playing that?

That's because fanboys aren't gamers.

Sounds like Sega before they ducked out of the console market.
I bet Microsoft will be full on PC next year, and phase out Xbox consoles.

It's been fun.

@themightyant

The original Xbox outsold the Gamecube (and Dreamcast) and was in second place in the mythical 'console war'. The Xbox One significantly outsold the Wii U at least 4:1

I see you conveniently choose to ignore the overlap between the Wii U and the Switch during the XBOne gen.....

@RIghteousNixon Good point. I'd counter it by suggesting there is a value in the appearance of "having all the games," worth more to a trillion dollar company than short term ledgers. Current roles/appearances reversed, I wonder if PlayStation could weather, say - a decade of that?

Not that I want that, as a consumer. Pitching this with the green hat on. I really just want competition; two opposing companies, on equal footing, fighting it out for my wallet by making wonderful games. Everything's is slanted toward PlayStation, we need that balanced out.

@Zoidpilot4 I don't think Autism/Asperger's has anything to do with it. I have Asperger's, and really, if anything I find the console wars difficult to understand because they are notoriously illogical. So, I couldn't really say that the average console fanboy needs to be assessed any more than the average hardcore sports fan. The pitfall of blind tribalism is a very human behavior, and it's easy for even smart people to slip into and act very, very dumb.

But really, there's also the angle that just because this is an Xbox fan site that every comment has to be positive and in favor of everything Xbox is doing. I have every platform, and I'm heavily skewed toward Xbox and Nintendo first party, but Xbox has done A LOT to test even the most serious fans faith. I'm still here, though. However, I'm going to call them out when they deserve it. I.e. Redfall.

It seems that PureXbox is more interested in generating traffic with hot takes that attracts the mob from PushSquare, instead of building a community of Xbox users around them. Sadly.

@Moonglow Not at all, but the argument they are making here with this statement is they dont have the resources right now to do it and need ABK to compete.

Does Apple need to acquire another firm to compete with Samsung? Nope its already close anyway and Apple are arguably close to beating Samsung and were until this year, the gap is just wider between IOS vs Android.

Amazon and Disney just need to invest in content and are and that gap between them and Netflix is already narrowing without them acquiring any further production houses to do it.

Azure doesnt need acquire another cloud developer to compete with AWS either, their brand is just more popular right now.

It isnt that the ABK investment wouldnt push Xbox forward and help that ability to compete, it would.

But they are arguing they need it to go through in order to continue to compete at all. and if you look at the resources they have, the number of studios they already own and the fact they are a trillon dollar company, its a struggle to believe that.

@RIghteousNixon this is just a lame excuses. Yeah lost the console war but did they lose their player base? I think not.

I find it really odd that Xbox super fans think this is in any way a good idea to have this merger go through. It's not healthy for gaming long term. We also have yet to see Xbox show that they benefit developers in any meaningful way. We can argue their infinite pocket books helped Zenimax further fund delays, but zenimax is not exactly a small broke company. I mean Bethesda used their own in house developer to help with Starfield, and we all saw how grossly mismanaged Halo was.

All these franchises which carry massive massive developers costs are losing a HUGE amounts of revenue being part of a 15 dollar monthly program instead of 45 dollar returns on sold games

I just can't see this being a good thing long term

I want MS thriving because their studios are doing things to make people say I have to join that Ecosystem because their catalog is amazing and what I can't get on PS. Not because well they bought the games I love, and I have no choice.

@GodofCapcom So, you think Xbox will go under if one game doesn't do well? Are you feeling OK or just being over dramatic?

@ZYDIO

He thinks it's because of one game hahahahahaha.

Have you paid attention to the last 10 years?

@themightyant

Their statement is demonstrably false, even under the most basic scrutiny

Not quite, even though you are doing your best. I'm sure that if Microsoft are including(?) all the metrics(for each Xbox gen) you are, they are factually correct. You do however get an A+ for your efforts to discredit them 😁. Have a good day.

!Xbox Jump in! Xbox Rulez

If everything is as bad as Phil Spencer keeps admitting then..... Why does he still have a job?

He's failed for years to improve the Xbox brand. He's failed to deliver actual quality software, as evidenced by him literally OPENLY APOLOGIZING FOR HOW BAD THE MOST RECENT XBOX STUDIOS GAME WAS.
This merger is going to fail. He's admitting Xbox is dead last.

Just axe this guy and get someone competent.

@BaldBelper78
So is Phill Spencer en Matt Booty & Co. Total mismanagement. It's time for fresh blood in the gaming industry. Both PS and Xbox. Phill also keeps telling the same lies over and over and is therefore no better than Jim

Seems Phil’s comments in the report have done the share prices no favours. Oops.

The thing with this whole ‘competition’ argument is that Sony are so far ahead, they will dominate for decades! They still have around 80% share of the worldwide market! That’s not a war nor is it a competition. It’s a rout. Xbox needs to focus on closing the gap anyway it can. But PlayStation is so far ahead and Nintendo are operating in a different way that Xbox needs to sort out what it wants and stick to it.
Sony could make a PlayStation 6 tomorrow , have no games at all for it and it would sell tens of millions. That’s where we are at. Xbox are having to work extra hard and are still nowhere near closing the gap.

@Kaloudz There’s no danger of them dropping out the market. I just think that ultimately they will focus on cloud arena. They are never going to close the gap to PlayStation now. This gen was the perfect chance to do so and they’ve blown it big time so cloud and streaming has to be their focus.
Streaming boxes and sticks will their future and by 2027, I doubt they will even make consoles any more.

@TommyNL They have both lost sight of gaming for gamers tbh. Nintendo focus on games and gaming which is why they still give directs that are streets ahead of PS and XB. There was more to get excited about in Nintendo’s 40 minute direct than at any time during either the Xbox or PS directs - Starfield perhaps being the slight exception.
The term next gen needs ditching as well. When we went from 8bit to 16bit etc - that was next gen. Now we just get incremental upgrades.
Both PS and XB need to stop looking for the next big thing and focus on quality gaming experiences! It really should be that simple but Jim and Phil both seem to be more bothered about cat calling and playground spats - it’s become unseemly and frankly at times, pathetic

@Link41x Worldwide , PS has around 70 to 80# share of the market. That’s not losing, it’s annihilation

@themightyant https://www.vgchartz.com/article/456379/ps5-vs-xbox-series-xs-vs-switch-2023-sales-comparison-charts-through-january-2023/

Possibly more accurate.

@Kaloudz Even after 6 years, Nintendo don’t even look like announcing a new system any time soon. I’m guessing 2026 now. Both they and Sony are on easy street now.

it is what it is and it not so interesting it is just fanboys thing and they find this dramatic i buy xbox consoles since 2003 and before that sega consoles it's just so xbox forever

Whilst its a true statement, its also simply posturing for the current hearings. MS will normally do everything to hide this and make it very difficult to access sales data, unless it suits them as it does today.

@themightyant There are so many different reports it’s hard to know which or who is most accurate. Whatever the full reality, Xbox is never going to win the console sales. As I’ve said before, Sony could create a new PS tomorrow and it will sell just because of the name. That’s where Sony are at, hence their complacency.
https://en.as.com/meristation/2023/02/21/news/1677012238_006400.html

@Titntin
"MS will normally do everything to hide this and make it very difficult to access sales data, unless it suits them as it does today".

LOL. What company does not do that. If you go back to the PS3, Sony started to combine PS2 and PS3 sales and slyly called them "Playstation" sales because XB360 was outselling PS3 but not PS2/3 combined. Every company on the planet tells the truth when things are going well and hides, confuses, or changes the truth when things are not going their way.

@themightyant

So you're argument is "xbox said it therefore it must be true" over giving any evidence. Alrighty then. lmao

Wow, that's quite an eye opener....but then you post this:
I agree there is likely SOME metric that they are cherry picking to stop it being an outright lie.
Thanks for doing the in depth info 👍

@NeoRatt At no point in my two sentances did I deny that any other company plays the game too. Im simply stating this statement (the subject of this article) is obviously playing that game.
Please dont bring other companies ive not mentioned into it. Im a gamer on any system and tribalism is toxic nonsense whoever its from - Im simply not interested.

They did, Sony brags about it until they don't want Microsoft to acquire what's needed to be relevant. Then Microsoft is painted to be too big and would be a monopoly. Sony is corrupt as it gets. The reason they can't afford these big acquisitions themselves is they spend all their money trying to block Microsoft from becoming relevant in the console market.

Yes, they are third in console sales. But Microsoft is not trying to be number one in console sales. Their focus is Game Pass. I feel like they are saying this while trying not to laugh. Knowing that their main focus is subscribers and getting Game Pass on every platform they can. In that respect, they are taking a very huge lead in the gaming industry.

@themightyant 👍

Sega is really offended right now.

I'm honestly starting to consider buying a ps5. I had to ship my new switch off to nintendo for repairs. I was pumped for Xbox this gen and i'm looking forward to starfield. But, you know what, ff16 looks good. Bloodborne looks good.

@Somebody The whole deal has been full of lies and more lies. Xbox are not wrong about being behind in console sales- they will always be third best unless Nintendo do another Wii U cock up next time round.
Sonys claim about only being profitable due to COD was and remains hilarious. How they even said that with a straight face is funnier still.

@Reptilio I feel that both Xbox and PS this gen have been disappointing tbh. Nintendo is still delivering for the gamers. Xbox and PS seem more bothered about attacking each others and telling lies to point score. It’s become embarrassing.

Sony fans seem to want it both ways. Agree that this is true, but have to block Microsoft because they are too big of a threat and have to try and block Microsoft from doing what they can't.

@Belkan

It’s not lame if it helps them win this case

@Link41x Yes. If they are behind by 1million sales at the end of a generation, some people consider that "losing." I'm any console manufacturer now or future would be cool with being that close to Nintendo or Sony in sales. Xbox could do far better and still be a bit behind.